Notes from November 13, 2025 by Sara Sorge
Shortly after noon, President Cara rang the bell and called the meeting to order. She then invited Dave Hartman to lead the invocation, followed by the Pledge of Allegiance and a cheerful rendition of “Smile and Sing A Song,” led by Arnold Oliver.
We welcomed 2 lovely guests – David Spencer’s wife, Carrie, and daughter, Tammy – and we had the pleasure of hearing from David for our Member Spotlight. David is approaching an impressive 40 years of Rotary membership and in this time has served as President (’95 – ’96), completed 3 terms on the Board of Directors, and had the pleasure of experiencing Rotary International in Nice, France. He studied and trained for many years in Dallas to become a Doctor of Diagnostic Radiology, and practiced for 35 years before retiring in Montague County. To sum things up, David said he is simply glad to be part of our club and I think it is safe to say we are equally glad - thank you for all that you do!
We were pleased to hear there was no news for the Sunshine Report, and Noros was successful in collecting funds for our brag bucket with brags including: the government re-opening, Jeremy welcoming a new baby last month, David Spencer’s upcoming birthday and his fantastic presentation at the Life Long Learning Center at MSU earlier in the day, plus a reminder of Dave Hartman’s upcoming presentation at the LLC. Additionally, we celebrated many brags for children & grandchildren shining in sports, and the success of our final flag day of 2025 extending kudos to many fellow Rotarians who (quite literally for some!) drive the program.
Cara announced that there were a few hiccups with the service project and therefore needed to postpone our Serve Instead meeting, to be rescheduled soon. Instead, we will meet at the Forum on November 20th at noon. There were no other announcements.
Josh Phillips then introduced our program featuring a familiar face to Rotary – Kris Gossum with Interfaith Ministries. She was pleased to be speaking to our group again, and it was ideal timing as she had spent the morning preparing for Oh Christmas Tree, their annual fundraiser, which would also be held at The Forum. On that note, funding & food were the topics of the day. She explained that Interfaith does not rely on Federal or State funding – 75% of their donations come from donations, and the other 25% from other grants. This structure positions Interfaith to help immediately when needs arise without the red tape that often accompanies government aid. A moving donor story was shared about a woman of very meager means who had been praying about what to do with some money she had, and she felt called to donate to Interfaith. In this woman’s envelope was $1,000, a sum that could certainly be impactful for this modest woman herself, but these are the people who keep the doors open “that’s who Interfaith is”.
On the topic of food, SNAP benefits should resume as the Government re-opens, but food scarcity is an ever-increasing need in our area. Interfaith’s food pantry was once more of an afterthought, but has quickly become the focus in recent years, serving over 1400 families last year and a growing number in 2025. Food is organized for families based on the family makeup, and individual dietary restrictions or needs. Interfaith also provides blessing bags with toiletries and hygiene items that unfortunately may not be accessible to those on an extremely limited budget. They have been blessed to receive some unexpected grants such as $20,000 from Howmet which purchased 10 pallets of food, however it is a continual struggle to keep the pantry full. Additionally, they are always seeking volunteers – they need about 15 volunteers daily to support operations and kids can even be found volunteering in the pantry & for some projects – don’t hesitate to inquire if you feel called to serve! Interfaith’s biggest ask was for continual prayer that they be able to meet needs in our community.
Josh Phillips presented a $1,000 check to Interfaith Ministries, which Kris thankfully accepted, noting it will go toward feeding our local community. It was a heart-warming, timely reminder as to why we participate in flag days – even when it may be chilly on Veterans Day or we may be sunburning on 4th of July!
The meeting concluded with the presentation of the speaker’s gift and the Four-Way Test.